...1 year already!Today is our 1 year wedding anniversary...I can't believe how the last year has flown! It has been one of our busiest years...in a nutshell...we got married, it snowed in the UK, 2 courses for my degree (overlapping each other), our honeymoon, a Gordan Ramsay at Claridges experience, an SA trip for Ian and Helen's wedding, our first god-daughter, Kayla, my mom's visit to the UK, my 1st exam, a holiday to Greece with my mom, assignments galore, my 30th birthday (and many others), a trip to Amsterdam with Mark, buying a new house, completely renovating it, moving in (builders in toe), Mark's trip to Dubai, for a job, getting offered the job and accepting it, another exam, loads and loads of birthday parties, a weekend to Bristol to see the family, Molly going through numerous injections for her pet passport, deciding to take a 3 month sabbatical from work, more snow in the UK, a holiday to Zanzibar for Steven and Ilze's wedding, numerous work Christmas lunches, even more snow, packing up the house and getting ready to move to Dubai.Definitely quite a jam packed year and one to be remembered! Lets hope the next year together is a bit more relaxed, but just as much fun (a lot warmer)!Morning / Afternoon / Early evening
Happy Anniversary Mark! I love you lots and look forward to many more happy years with you! 
...a Zanzibar hello.We left a cold and snowy London on Saturday, 4th December, and arrived in Zanzibar on Sunday, to the complete opposite weather extreme...32 degrees heat and lots of humidity! We weren't even there more than half an hour and we were in our cossies and in the pool, which was more like a bath! The first day pretty much consisted of relaxing around the pool, in between swims and sleeps and lots of eating! Bliss!
The next day, we had an early start...breakfast at 07h30, before being fetched for our dives at 08h00. Mark's way of kickstarting his holiday...no time for lie ins. The tide levels in Zanzibar are quite extreme and generally it seemed to be low tide in the mornings, which also happened to be the best time to go diving. So our ride to the dive centre, not to mention the beach turned out to be quite an interesting excursion that even the best 4x4's would find it difficult to make the journey completely comfortable, and lets face it, very few 3rd world countries would have the best 4x4's to choose from. Nevertheless we made it to the beach and once we had completed the hike out to the boat, the sea , even although it too was quite warm, was very welcoming. The dives went off well, spotting stingrays, lion fish, moray eels and many other fish. 
We got back to the hotel with an hour to spare before the wedding bus was leaving...Dressed and showered in good time, we boarded the wedding bus and headed to the ruins near Stone Town where Steven and Ilze were married, in a lovely (and bi-lingual) ceremony. Everyone was in white, from bride, wedding party and the guests...with the bridesmaids dresses adding a bit of colour in the form of a blue sash or blue flower and blue parasols. The family photos were down on the steps of the ruins before moveing down to a nearby beach. The bus returned to collect the guests and take them to the reception venue, which was on the beach at a restaurant owned by a South African couple. The setting was gorgeous (and still exteremly hot). The bride and groom (and a couple of others) arrived by Dow (the type of boats used in Zanzibar) and were welcomed by some traditional Zanzibar dances and music. The reception got underway with Raul and Penny as the MCs for the evening...once the speeches were done and food was eaten, the entertainment for the evening began with a Zanzibar band providing the music. Before we knew it, the bus arrived to take us back to the hotel, which bought and end to a lovely day.
The day after the wedding consisted of more relaxing by the pool, amongst swims, sleeps and food. The Wednesday was another early start with almost all of the wedding guests, who were up early to get another bus for the days planned snorkelling trip, Safari Blue that had been organised by Verimaak and James Bond (some of the locals on the beach who organise tours separate from the hotels for a more reasonable rate). First stop was a large sandbank, where we saw an assortment of fish. We then headed to a little island for lunch, which consisted of lots and lots of seafood, including lobster and crayfish (which was a first for us). From there we headed to a mangroves patch, where the water was incredibly salty and some who have yet to be able to float before enjoyed a session of chilling and floating in the sea. That night we headed to the pizza restaurant on the beach which was part of the hotel for a wedding party meal, which also happened to be Marius birthday.
Thursday it was time for Aunty Angela and Uncle Phil to head back to London, so we spent the day at the hotel chilling and relaxing some more. The Friday most of the wedding party headed out for a day trip excursion to Stone Town, Prison Island with large and old tortisous as well as a Spice Island tour. Since we had done somethng similar in Sri Lanka, Mark and I decided to do some more diving instead of joining the tour, and would make our own way to Stone Town later in the afternoon. The dives went off well again, where we saw yet more stingrays, moray eels, lion fish and a couple of crocodile fish. Back at the hotel we got ready for our trip into Stone Town on the Dalla Dalla (Zanzibar's answer to the Sri Lanka's tuk tuk and South Africa's black taxis). One pulled up just as we got to the road at the end of the hotel driveway...perfect timing. The cost was 1500 Tanzanian shillings (which amounts to just over $1). Onlyone local onboard could speak English and he informed us it would take 45min to 1 hour to get to Stone Town. Normally he would be going into Stone Town, however not that day. A couple of stops later he left us, nerve wrackingly enough with a 'good luck' message. The journey started off well, and were were about the 5th people onboard...however as the journey progressed the more passengers it picked up. Mark and I were the butt of many a joke from the locals onboard, as we were obviously sitting in the worst position, which got more and more uncomfortable as the number of passengers increased...bum room was great, but leg room was another story. At one point I counted 23 people inside, with 5 hanging off the back...parcels inside by our feet and not to mention on top of ceiling. An hour later (pretty spot on if you ask me) we arrived on the main strip in Stone Town...where we were greeted by an unbelievable stench, of old fish and food lying rotting on the ground. A friendly local saw us tourists and offered to show us to an atm machine, where we could draw some money...the first 3 atms we went to were broken. The 4th thankfully worked...next point of call was a foreign exchange. Again our local yocal took us to a foreign exchange, which for some reason had absolutely no American dollars, so off we headed to another. Once our money was changed up, our friendly local proceeded to show us round the main parts of Stone Town, pointing out some of the most beautiful carved doors, all of which had a story behind them. We kept an eye on the time as our friendly local in the Dalla Dalla had warned us on the way into town to make sure we were on our return journey before 6pm. So come 17h30 we were back where we started and our friendly guide for the day made sure we got back on the right Dalla Dalla to head back to our hotel. Again Mark and I got the bad seats, but the further we progressed in the more the tried to move our way to one of the better seats...not before we were again the butt of some of the locals jokes. And just when I thought not another bum could fit...a big mamma got on and proceeded to put her bum in my face before squeezing it into the smallest space you have ever seen, which then obviously encroached upon my already non existent space. Regardless of having to travel this way, for at least an hour each way, the locals were extremely pleasant and happy, laughing and joking and the children are taken care of by each and everyone on the Dalla Dalla showing their humbleness, which was really amazing. We made it back to the hotel safe and sound... after quite an adventure filled day and one that we are very glad we got to experience...in time to have one last dinner with the family before they all left the following day.
Mark and I, having arrived a day after everything in the beginning, had a further day to enjoy relaxing by the pool, before our very early 4am start on the Sunday morning, making our way back to the freezing cold London...but not before experiencing our real African adventure...Dar Es Salaam airport!
